It is my understanding that the racers give their passports to production, who obtain multiple Visas, some for the countries to be visited, some as "decoys". So yes, when their passports are returned to them, they can see visas for a group of countries, but they don't know which ones of those countries will actually be visited. So they have an idea based on the possibilities, but they don't know exactly, if that makes sense? But I will be glad to ask to be sure!!

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"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan

There's also a backup purpose for multiple visas. If something goes wrong in country A (politics/weather/etc.), they can proceed to destination B without taking too much of a hit.

On a different subject, it looks like they switched the start mat--again--to the lawn of the Meridien. Compare the lobby cap to this photo. And if you check Matt's Moscow shots, you'll see sync with the Moscow Meridien location next to Red Square. TAR13 is turning into the Meridien World Tour.

And why are they switching the Pitstop/Pitstarts around? Do they think we don't notice??

Where was that clip??

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"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan

I had pretty much come to that conclusion about 2003 I guess. It's nice to know that one's brain still works. I apologise for the dumb questions. As I get better at searching your site, I will not ask as many, I promise.

guys, have you thought someone could have bought more expensive airline tickets not havening enough money like in season 12, and i know Andrew done that becuse in the last episode they paid that man 1000, so cl :funny:early they dont know how to use there money

Airline tickets are paid by the WRP credit card...not from the team funds.

And the 1000 was not as bad as it sounded , although still a fair bit considering...

1,000.00 KZT = $8.33576 USD Kazakhstan Tenge United States Dollars

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"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan

I adore the race wholeheartedly, but the commercial spoofing the Borat like Kazakhstan disappointed me as well...

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"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan

Is anyone not sad that Terence and Sarah were eliminated and only 7 minutes behind Dandrew?

You bet. I'm not sad at all. Terence and Sarah took a (poorly) calculated risk and deserved elimination when that risk failed to pay off. I am also no fan of Dan and Andrew bumbling their way through to be competing in leg 9, but at least they were only inept and not mindless and they tried hard.

It is my understanding that the racers give their passports to production, who obtain multiple Visas, some for the countries to be visited, some as "decoys". So yes, when their passports are returned to them, they can see visas for a group of countries, but they don't know which ones of those countries will actually be visited. So they have an idea based on the possibilities, but they don't know exactly, if that makes sense? But I will be glad to ask to be sure!!

Do you think they gave back the passport just b4 the race started ? to make minimum time to "study" ? I thought US peoples can have 'visa on arrival' on most countries

Peach:Yes you are correct on the pre-race visa activity. They get many more visas than are actually used to prevent teams from knowing where they are going.

snap-on:Teams are responsible for their wown passports for the entire reach. They take the passports of the sound-man and camerman to the ticket office when obtaining all airline flights. Although the episodes talk about "2 tickets to..." what is really happening is that the racers request 4 seats and hand over all 4 passports. They obviously get them back immediately.

On the question of on-arrival visas, you are correct for many countries, but that takes valuable time at the port of entry. What the Amazing Race does is obtain all the necessary visas in advance of the race to minimize delays getting through the airport.

In the first of a special two part series, Phil tries to convince a chicken farmer to dance like a chicken with him

The Amazing Race 13 - Phil's Video Diary: Kazakhstan: Part 2While waiting for the teams to arrive, Phil receives a shot of Vitamin B-6 to keep his energy up. This is the second of a two part series in Kazakhstan.

"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan

If I get him to do the chicken dance I deserve a medal or something! (eeek...suppose I had to do it too? Maybe NOT such a good idea after all! )

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"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan

"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan